


The Boy that's no longer next door...

by creative_soul



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst, Betty Cooper - Freeform, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Friends With Benefits, Jealous Archie Andrews, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Riverdale, RiverdaleSeason5, archie andrews - Freeform, barchie, the boy next door
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-14 10:40:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29790681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/creative_soul/pseuds/creative_soul
Summary: After a fire breaks out at the Andrew's residence, Betty and Archie find themselves going from neighbours to roommates in the space of a few hours. And of course, as chance would have it, Glenn finds the perfect time to pop into the town of Riverdale...
Relationships: Archie Andrews & Betty Cooper, Archie Andrews/Betty Cooper, Barchie - Relationship
Comments: 7
Kudos: 64





	The Boy that's no longer next door...

She’s not really sure where her and Archie stand right now. They’re supposed to be ‘good old friends’ having some fun but she’s certain that they’ve blurred the lines a bit too much for it to be just ‘good old friends’. 

Ever since the fire at the Andrew’s house last week, Archie’s been living with her, under the same roof. The boy that's no longer next door but inside her house.  
Has it been easier to fool around unnoticed? No, it hasn’t. Her mum’s been on her case about Polly constantly and she’s considering putting a lock on her bedroom door, so the twins don’t keep running in every five minutes. 

But still, she can’t deny it’s been nice having Archie around her a lot more.

She’s in the kitchen drying off some plates when the doorbell goes.

“I’ll get it”… she hears Archie yell from the living room, he’s only been living under her roof a week but it feels like such a natural thing.

Archie’s opening her door before she can get there…“Can I help you?” she hears Archie ask.

“I’m looking for Betty Cooper actually, I assumed this was still her old house?”

Oh shit, she recognises that voice and for some reason she finds herself rushing to the front door.

“And you are?” Archie’s eyeing him up and down. 

Betty’s already pushing Archie to one side of the door frame. “Glenn…what are you doing here?”

“I came to update you about a new potential lead on the TBK case…and well, I missed you, thought I’d drop by and surprise you”

Betty can feel Archie’s eyes burning into her from the side. Is he jealous?

“oh, well do you want to come in?” she opens the door up for him.

“sure” Archie's sending her a really weird look, is she doing something wrong? Last time she checked Archie wasn’t her boyfriend? Why’s he behaving like this?

“um this is Archie, he’s my um friend from way back” she’s letting out a little nervous laugh and Archie's pulling a face at her friend comment. “Archie, this is Glenn, my boss…” Glenn’s offering out his hand to Archie.

“I’m a little more than that Betty, don’t you think?” he’s giving her a little smirk, but she can hear Archie clearing his throat in an annoying tone as he shakes Glenn’s hand. 

“So Betty, how’ve you been? The teams really misses you”

“yeh good, I’ve been doing ok, it’s been nice actually being back here for a while, different”

“Betty’s actually been helping out at the school, starting up shop class again” Archie’s adding with a proud look on his face. It would be really endearing if he didn’t sound like he was trying to be an alpha male, typical.

“Agent Cooper, teaching kids how to fix up cars? That’s my girl”. She can’t help but cringe a little at that last part, his girl? Yeh they’ve hooked up a couple times but he’s her boss…it's weird. She’s only really resorted to Glenn on days where she really didn’t want to be alone.

“I thought while I was over here, I could take you out for dinner tonight." She can see Archie's eyes going wild in the corner of the room. "What’d you say, you, me, eight o’clock?” She watches as he strokes her arm and then she’s looking anywhere but at him. “I can’t tonight, I’m meeting friends for thai” she moves away a little.

“Well, in that case I’ll head back, but as long as you’re ok? I know all that shit with TBK’s been weighing on your mind, we thought we had a new lead on him the other day but turned out to be false, we've got something else that's popped up in the last couple of days tho, let’s just hope he’s not out there doing god knows what”

Betty’s silent at that. She really wished he hadn’t brought it up, I mean it’s all her life revolves around back in Quantico and TBK is all she has thought about over the last year but being back in Riverdale, she’s really tried to push it to the back of her mind, despite the constant night terrors. “Uh yeah, well it’s not like I could be of much help with that right now considering I’ve been taken off the case” 

“Well, you’re signed off until the end of the month...but any update on when you’ll be coming home? As much as I enjoy watching your cat, it’d be nice to have you back with me”

“yeh, I’ll let you know” she offers him a small smile, he is still her boss after all... home? Was Quantico home? She hadn’t really thought about it like that. 

“don’t I get a kiss goodbye?” Archie’s looking over at her once again. She reaches up to give Glenn a quick peck but then he pulls her in and kisses her. 

She’s pulling back as quick as she can, “alright, I’ll text you”

“bye Glenn” with that she shuts the door and goes back into the kitchen to get a drink, walking straight past Archie without a word.

“you have a cat?” Archie’s following her, asking the important questions as soon as Glenn’s gone. She didn’t think that would be the question he would lead with tho.

“yes” she decides to pour a vodka tonic, it’s been a stressful week.

“after what happened with Caramel?” he’s walking up behind her now.

“Archie!” she gives him a playful slap on the arm.

“ow, what? I’m sorry, it was a joke” he’s holding his hands up in defence.

“his name is Toffee”

"and what's TBK? it didn't sound like a good thing?"

"that's because it's not, it's a case at work, that's all"

"that's all?" he know's she's underplaying it. He's known her too long to not know when she's trying to run away from things that get too much.

She lets out a long breath to steady herself a little. "TBK is a serial killer...we were tracking him for a while and well when I found his hide out, I stupidly went in without calling for back up and ended up in captivity for a couple of weeks. I was stuck down a well and I really thought that was it, that I was never going to see daylight again, that I was going to die in a hole in the ground at the hands of a serial killer, which seem to happen more than it should for me"

"Betty..." She's seen Archie's concerned look before but this is different. 

"anyway, the FBI tracked us down but by the time they arrived he'd gone. My team hate me and now I've got to live with the fact that there's a serial killer on the loose again choosing his next victims thanks to me." she can feel a few stray tears running down her cheeks and tries to wipe them away. She's been trained to have a thick skin going into this field of work, which she sort of already had after what happened with the Black Hood. But being back here in the house she grew up in, with the boy she grew up with, she can't help but let emotions get the better of her. 

Archie's wrapping her up in a tight hug but he doesn't say much, he doesn't have to, his face says it all. 

"We faced the Black Hood together, you'll get through this too and I'll be right here by your side the whole time". His voice is a little shaky and he's hugging her so tightly. 

He's brushing his thumb over her tear stained cheek and she wants to change the subject. She doesn't want to talk about it anymore. So she decides that they're going to get that pizza he promised her last week when she helped rid his house of Ghoulies. 

“anyway, fancy getting that pizza now?”….he let's out a little laugh.

They spend the next couple of hours watching an old movie and gorging on pizza. As much as she enjoys their little friends with benefits situation, she’s also really missed just hanging out with him. This right here is what she wants. 

The films nearly over but Archie appeared to lose interest about twenty minutes ago. And now he’s planting little kisses down her neck and she can’t help but feel a rise building inside her. Before she knows it, she’s straddling his lap and he’s pushing her down against him in little circular motions and she’s going crazy at the friction between their clothes. She’s discovered she’s not so patient when it comes to having sex with Archie. He’s picking her up and they haphazardly just about make it up the stairs to Betty’s bedroom as Archie manages to kick the door closed behind him. 

\-------------------------------

They’re lying in Betty’s bed, both heavily breathing, coming down from their latest escapade which they seem to be making a regular habit of. Archie’s tracing little circles on her arm and she’s subconsciously running her fingertips over his abs. And then Archie breaks the silence.

“so, Glenn…you didn’t mention him before” and there it is, the elephant in the room.

“That’s because there’s nothing really to mention” she’s hoping he’ll just drop it, if there’s one thing they’ve been good at doing since freshman year, its avoiding talking about their feelings. 

“But you guys have hooked up then? I mean he did kiss you”

She’s sitting up covering herself with the sheet, narrowing her eyes at Archie. 

“are you jealous Arch?” he’s avoiding her gaze, so that’s an obvious yes. “anyway, it’s not your business is it? We’re just good friends remember?” silence? Really? He’s not going to say anything now?

“Look it’s been lonely up in Quantico ok. And well ever since I was in captivity I haven’t been dealing with things as well as I should have. I don’t remember the last time I had a decent night’s sleep…a night where my subconscious doesn’t try to torture me. And Glenn well, he just happened to be a person of comfort on nights when it got too much”

“Betty, why didn’t you tell me any of this? I’m always here for you, you know that”

“Then where were you over the last seven years Archie?”

He’s sitting up now…“That’s not fair Betty, I haven’t been here, I’ve been at War… and well we didn’t exactly leave High School on good terms, after everything that happened between us I figured leaving town was the best thing, you seemed adamant that you wanted to be with Jughead. But here we are seven years later….and although we’re older and the towns somehow even more messed up than when we left it, I’m still here for you”.

“Archie, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that…it’s just, since coming back to Riverdale, I just thought if I ignored it, it would eventually go away…and I didn’t want to burden you, we’re supposed to be having fun, fooling around…not going into deep conversations about serial killer trauma”.

“Betty, you are my best friend…” he pauses “and no matter what happens between us, you will always be my best friend” he reaches out for her hand, and she’s sure that best friends aren’t supposed to feel this way at the touch of a hand. “I am here, night and day, whether it’s about Gargoyles…” she has to laugh at that one, god what a fucked-up adolescence… “or serial killers or Pop’s running out of your favourite milkshake…you can tell me anything and I will always be there for you” he’s got both her hands in his and he’s staring at her so intently, so fiercely. 

“Arch” she looks over at his lips and he’s gently pulling her towards him, embracing his lips with hers. They’ve kissed, a lot in the past couple of weeks and yeh technically that’s not what friends with benefits are supposed to do but this feels different. This kiss doesn’t feel like lust, it feels a lot like love.

“stay” she lets out a little breath she hadn’t realised she was holding. 

“huh” he looks a little taken back, and she knows that there is this unspoken thing between them that they both keep avoiding. Sooner or later, they’re going to have to address it but she’s definitely not going to bring it up now. 

“stay with me tonight… please?” she’s avoiding his eye contact, they haven’t spent the night together yet, Archie’s never stayed over, not since the sleepovers they had when they were kids.

He lightly lifts her chin up so she’s looking at him, “Don’t have to ask me twice Miss Cooper” he’s gives her a goofy grin and it’s sending a weird feeling to her stomach. 

With that, he’s kissing her as they fall back on the bed. His arms are wrapped around her and it feels so natural as he plants a little kiss on the top of her head. 

And for the first time in a long time, Betty sleeps through the night, no TBK, no nightmares, just the safety of Archie’s arms. 

After all, being with Archie is where she has always felt safest.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi All, I hope you enjoyed this little Barchie one shot : )  
> Who doesn't love a bit of jealous Archie? 
> 
> Thanks so much for reading , creative_soul!


End file.
